The present invention relates to a method and a kit for shaping woody plants into a desired form and to products generated therefrom.
The art of shaping living woody plants is known as “arborsculpture”, “preaching”, “tree trunk topiary”, “tree trunk shaping”, “botanical architecture”, “biotechture” or “permaculture”. Presently known living tree configurations include, but are not limited to chairs, tables, benches, entrance arches, tunnels, symbols, fences, bridges, garden rooms and gazebos. The living constructs provide obvious aesthetic and environmental benefits.
Presently, arborsculpture is practiced by manipulating growth of the above-ground tissues (e.g., stem and branches) using traditional horticultural techniques such as pruning, trimming, bending, framing and grafting. The principle methods which are presently used in arborsculpture are described by R. Reames (How to grow a chair: The art of tree trunk topiary, Arborsmith Studios 1607 Cave Camp Road Williams, Oreg. USA, 1995). Accordingly, the process of shaping living woody plants using traditional techniques is very time consuming, excessively laborious and very costly.
Recently, it has been demonstrated that aeroponic chambers can be constructed to accommodate the growth of trees having roots several meters in length (Waisel Y., Aeroponics: a tool for root research under minimal environmental restrictions, pp. 323-331 In: Waisel et al., (eds) Plant Roots, the Hidden Half, 3rd Edition, Marcel Dekker Inc, 2002). In aeroponic cultivation, the foliage and root systems of plants are maintained in separate portions of a growth chamber. Accordingly, the foliage is maintained in an illuminated portion of the growth chamber, while the plant roots are suspended in free space in a dark vertically oriented portion of a growth chamber. Water and nutrients are provided upon the bare plant roots by fogging or spraying. Consequently, the plant roots remain free of solid particulates.
While conceptualizing the present invention, the present inventor uncovered that long and flexible tap roots of aeroponically grown trees can be readily shaped into a desired form and cultivated to yield predetermined structures. Furthermore, the root structure retains its designated shape throughout the entire thickening process without the extensive pruning that inherently accompanies state of the art arborsculpture techniques.
The present invention provides novel methods and kits for shaping roots of aeroponically grown woody plants into desired forms conveniently, rapidly and cost-effectively.